Box-opener.



Patented Dec. 2, I902..

L. McMULLAN.

' aux OPENER.

(Applica tion med Apr. 12, 1902.)

w: yonms rrrgns ca, numuma. WASHINGTON. u, c.

9 NITED STATES IVPATENT FFIQE.

LILLIAN MCMULLAN, OF JERSEY SHORE, PENNSYLVANIA.

BOX-OPENER.

$IEEGIFIOATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 714,816, dated'December 2, 1902. Application filed April 12, 1902. $eria1No-1OZ,666. (No model.)

To ctZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LILLIAN MOMULLAN,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Jersey Shore, in the county of Lycoming and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Box-Opener, of which the following is a specification.

' This invention relates to box-openers in general, and particularly to one adapted for use in connection with pasteboard boxes of i the character generally employed for containing breakfast-foods, biscuits, cereals, gelatins, washing-powders, and other household articles.

The object of the invention is to provide a simple and inexpensive box-opener which in operation will be positive in effecting unsealboxes require the use of an implement, such as a knife, for severing the paper wrapper,

and aside from the danger of injury to the person opening the box the latter is frequently damaged and rendered useless, where if properly opened it could be employed for many useful purposes.

By the employment of the device hereinafter described a box may readily and quickly be opened without trouble or danger either of injuring the person opening the box or of de- 1 stroying the. same.

With these and other objects in view, as will appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consists in the novel construction and combination of parts of a box-opener, as will be hereinafter fully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and in which like numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts, there is illustrated one form of embodiment of the invention capable of carrying the same into practical operation, it being understood that the elements therein exhibited may be varied or changed as to shape, proportion, and exact manner of assemblage without departing from the spirit thereof, and in the drawings Figure 1 is a View in perspective of a box provided with the opener of this invention. Fig. 2 is a view in perspective with the wrapper detached and turned back to exhibit the manner in which the fastener is associated with one of the flaps constituting the end of the box, the said flap being in its normal position. Fig. 3 is a perspective view exhibitingthe flap carrying the opening device turned back. Fig. 4 is a perspective detail view of the opening device removed from the box.

Referring to the drawings,-1 designates an ordinary pasteboard box having its ends composed of foldable flaps 2, 3, 4, and 5. But one end of the box is herein shown, it being understood that the other end will be a duplicate thereof. Attached in this instance to the flap 2 is the opening device 6, comprising a body portion 7, provided with two tangs or spurs 8 and a loop or finger-piece 9, integral with the body. These box-openers may be made from any suitable material, preferably from scrap tin, which would otherwise be wasted, and can therefore be cheaply and economically produced. As herein shown,

the tangs are disposed diagonally with relation to each other-that is to say, one of the tangs projects from the end of the body and the other is disposed intermediate of the width of one side thereof; but it is to be understood in practice that the tangs may be otherwise disposed than shown and still be within the scope of the invention.

In assembling the opener with the flap 2 the tangs are forced therethrough in any preferred manner and are then bent or clenched in upon the flap, as clearly shown in Fig. 2, the body of the opener beingon the under sideiof the flap, as shown in Fig. 3, and the eye or loop 9 projecting outward beyond the flap. The wrapper or cover 10 is then pasted upon the box, after which the loop is bent down either upon the top of the box, as shown in Fig. 1, or on the side, as may be preferred, thus to be in full view. To open the box, the loop is lifted from the part of the box against which it lies and a finger is inserted through the loop and an upward pull given thereto, whereupon the wrapper will be torn along the from edge and sides of the box, thereby, freeing the flap 2, after which the other flaps may be turned out, thus to expose the contents of the box.

In addition to performing the function of a box-opener the device will constitute a means for suspending the box after the same is empty, as the loop may be readily passed over a nail or screw, and thus hold the box in convenient position to receive culinary articles.

It will be seen from the foregoing description that although the box-opener of this in vention is exceedingly simple of construction it will be thoroughly efficient in use and may be associated with the box without materially adding to its cost of production.

Having thus fully described my invention,

what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The combination with a box provided with foldable flaps, and with a wrapper to be pasted over the flaps to hold the same closed, of an opening device comprising a body portion provided with tangs and with an integral neck portion terminating in a loop, the tangs being clenched to the lid, beneath the wrapper, and the loop being adapted normally to lie against the box, the said loop, when the box is opened, constituting suspending means.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

LILLIAN MCMULLAN.

Witnesses:

J. S. MCMULLAN, RALPH STEVENSON. 

